1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an herbal beverage, and to a method of manufacture. More specifically, this invention is a process for manufacture of an improved herbal beverage having therapeutic properties, and to a stabilized herbal beverage prepared in accordance with this process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of herbal remedies has been and continues to dominate many cultures, particularly cultures that trace their roots back to Africa, and to the native Indians in the north, central and south Americas. Many of these remedies are derivative from plants, (both the fruit/berries/flowers and to the roots/bark) to a lesser extent from insects and animals. This is particularly true in the Caribbean, including the country of Cuba, which has, over the years, produced a variety of medicinal therapies based upon a combination of different plant constituents.
For example, the beverage Pru is a traditional refreshment and medicinal drink produced by their decoction and fermentation with sugar. It is claimed to have hypotensive, stomachic, depurative, and diuretic properties. Pru has long been confined to a number of traditional villages in eastern Cuba, and its origin may be traced back to the ethnobotanical knowledge of French-Haitian people that migrated to Cuba from the end of the 1700s. With the economic crisis of the early 1990s that resulted in the disappearance of industrial soft drinks in Cuba, and in the search for new income sources, pru spread across almost the entire island. This has resulted in the commoditization of the drink and related traditional knowledge, and possibly in increasing pressure on the species' wild populations
Many of these herbal remedies are mixtures of various natural ingredients, and, the literature is replete with empirical evidence of their effectiveness, and/or their perceived effectiveness. Because of its multicultural heritage, such herbal remedies abound; and, the inhabitants of Cuba have routinely preferred and entrusted their well-being to natural therapeutics for years. A survey article has identified over 170 plant species, that are utilized in 199 formulas, Cano & Volpato, Herbal Mixtures In Traditional Medicines of Eastern Cuba, J. Ethnopharmacology, Vol. 90 (2004) 293-316.